Textile printing is the process of applying colour to fabric in definite patterns or

designs. In properly printed fabrics the colour is bonded with thefiber, so as to

resist washing and friction. Textile printing is related to dyeing but, whereas in dyeing
proper the whole fabric is uniformly covered with one colour, in printing one or more
colours are applied to it in certain parts only, and in sharply defined patterns.
In printing, wooden blocks, stencils, engraved plates, rollers, or silkscreens can be used
to place colours on the fabric. Colourants used in printing contain dyes thickened to
prevent the colour from spreading by capillary attraction beyond the limits of the pattern
or design.
Traditional textile printing techniques may be broadly categorised into four styles:

Direct printing, in which colourants containing dyes, thickeners, and the mordants or
substances necessary for fixing the colour on the cloth are printed in the desired
pattern.

The printing of a mordant in the desired pattern prior to dyeing cloth; the color
adheres only where the mordant was printed.

Resist dyeing, in which a wax or other substance is printed onto fabric which is
subsequently dyed. The waxed areas do not accept the dye, leaving uncoloured
patterns against a coloured ground.

Discharge printing, in which a bleaching agent is printed onto previously dyed

fabrics to remove some or all of the colour.

Resist and discharge techniques were particularly fashionable in the 19th century, as
were combination techniques in which indigo resist was used to create blue
backgrounds prior to block-printing of other colours.[1] Most modern industrialised
printing uses direct printing techniques.
Contents
[hide]

1 Origins

2 Technology

3 Methods of printing
o

3.1 Hand block printing

3.2 Perrotine printing

3.3 Engraved copperplate printing

3.4 Roller printing, cylinder printing, or machine printing

3.5 Stencil printing

3.6 Screen-printing

3.7 Digital textile printing

3.8 Other methods of printing

4 Preparation of cloth for printing

5 Preparation of colours

6 Selecting thickening agents

o

6.1 Starch paste

6.2 Gums

6.3 Albumen

6.4 Printing thickeners and the dye system

7 Printing paste preparation

8 Silk printing

9 See also

10 Notes

11 References

Origins[edit]
Woodblock printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely
throughout East Asia and probably originating in China in antiquity as a method of
printing on textiles and laterpaper. As a method of printing on cloth, the earliest
surviving examples from China date to before 220.
Textile printing was known in Europe, via the Islamic world, from about the 12th century,
and widely used. However, the European dyes tended to liquify, which restricted the use
of printed patterns. Fairly large and ambitious designs were printed for decorative
purposes such as wall-hangings and lectern-cloths, where this was less of a problem as
they did not need washing. When paper became common, the technology was rapidly
used on that for woodcut prints.[2] Superior cloth was also imported from Islamic
countries, but this was much more expensive.
The Incas of Peru, Chile and the Aztecs of Mexico also practiced textile printing
previous to the Spanish Invasion in 1519; but owing to the imperfect character of their
records before that date, it is impossible to say whether they discovered the art for
themselves, or, in some way, learned its principles from the Asiatics.

During the later half of the 17th century the French brought directly by sea, from their
colonies on the east coast of India, samples of Indian blue and white resist prints, and
along with them, particulars of the processes by which they had been produced, which
produced washable fabrics.

Technology[edit]
Textile printing was introduced into England in 1676 by a French refugee who opened
works, in that year, on the banks of the Thames near Richmond. Curiously enough this
is the first print-works on record; [ This is an old story from a reference in the late 1800s
but it has never been proven and is generally not believed to be the case any more.
There are no French names on the list of fabric printers and dyers at that time. Later a
few French Huguenots arrived but that was after the British had a flourishing calico
printing industry established. ] but the nationality and political status of its founder are
sufficient to prove that printing was previously carried on in France. In Germany, too,
textile printing was in all probability well established before it spread to England, for,
towards the end of the 17th century, the district of Augsburg was celebrated for its
printed linens, a reputation not likely to have been built up had the industry been
introduced later than 1676.
As early as the 1630s, the East India Company was bringing in printed and plain cotton
for the English market. By the 1660s British printers and dyers were making their own
printed cotton to sell at home, printing single colors on plain backgrounds; less colorful
than the imported prints, but more to the taste of the British. Designs were also sent to
India for their craftspeople to copy for export back to England. There were many
dyehouses in England in the latter half of the 17th century, Lancaster being one area
and on the River Lea near London another. Plain cloth was put through a prolonged
bleaching process which prepared the material to receive and hold applied color; this
process vastly improved the color durability of English calicoes and required a great
deal of water from nearby rivers. Again, there were many dyehouses, the one I am most
familiar with was that started by John Meakins, a London Quaker who lived in
Cripplegate. When he died, he passed his dyehouse to his son-in-law Benjamin Ollive,
Citizen and Dyer, who moved the dye-works to Bromley Hall where it remained in the
family until 1823, known as [Benjamin Ollive and Company] Ollive & Talwin, Joseph
Talwin & Company, Talwin & Foster... Samples of their fabrics and designs can be
found in many museums in England and the United States, including the Victoria and
Albert Museum in London and the Smithsonian Copper-Hewett in New York.

On the continent of Europe the commercial importance of calico printing seems to have
been almost immediately recognized, and in consequence it spread and developed
there much more rapidly than in England, where it was neglected and practically at a
standstill for nearly ninety years after its introduction. During the last two decades of the
17th century and the earlier ones of the 18th new works were started in France,
Germany, Switzerland and Austria; but it was only in 1738 that calico printing was first,
practiced in Scotland, and not until twenty-six years later that Messrs Clayton of Bamber
Bridge, near Preston, established in 1764 the first print-works in Lancashire, and thus
laid the foundation of the industry. At the present time calico printing is carried on
extensively in every quarter of the globe, and it is pretty safe to say that there is
scarcely a civilized country in either hemisphere where a print-works does not exist.
From an artistic point of view most of the pioneer work in calico printing was done by the
French; and so rapid was their advance in this branch of the business that they soon
came to be acknowledged as its leading exponents. Their styles of design and schemes
of colour were closely followed-even deliberately copied by all other European printers;
and, from the early days of the industry down to the latter half of the 20th century, the
productions of the French printers in Jouy, Beauvais, Rouen, Alsace-Lorraine, &c., were
looked upon as representing all that was best in artistic calico printing. This reputation
was established by the superiority of their earlier work, which, whatever else it may
have lacked, possessed in a high degree the two main qualities essential to all good
decorative work, viz., appropriateness of pattern and excellency of workmanship. If,
occasionally, the earlier designers permitted themselves to indulge in somewhat bizarre
fancies, they at least carefully refrained from any attempt to produce those pseudorealistic effects the undue straining after which in later times ultimately led to the
degradation of not only French calico printing design, but of that of all other European
nations who followed their lead. The practice of the older craftsmen, at their best, was to
treat their ornament in a way at once broad, simple and direct, thoroughly artistic and
perfectly adapted to the means by which it had to be reproduced. The result was that
their designs were characterized, on the one hand, by those qualities of breadth,
flatness of field, simplicity of treatment arid pureness of tint so rightly prized by the artist;
and, on the other, by their entire freedom from those meretricious effects of naturalistic
projection and recession so dear to the modern mind and so utterly opposed to the
principles of applied art.

Methods of printing[edit]

There are seven distinct methods at present in use for producing coloured patterns on
cloth:

Hand block printing[edit]

Main article: Woodblock printing on textiles

Woman doing block printing at Halasur village, Karnataka, India.

This process, though considered by some to be the most artistic, is the earliest, simplest
and slowest of all methods of printing.
In this process, a design is drawn on, or transferred to, a prepared wooden block. A
separate block is required for each distinct colour in the design.
A blockcutter carves out the wood around the heavier masses first, leaving the finer and
more delicate work until the last so as to avoid any risk of injuring it during the cutting of
the coarser parts. When finished, the block presents the appearance of flat relief
carving, with the design standing out.
Fine details are very difficult to cut in wood, and, even when successfully cut, wear
down very rapidly or break off in printing. They are therefore almost invariably built up in
strips of brass or copper, bent to shape and driven edgewise into the flat surface of the
block. This method is known as coppering.
To print the design on the fabric, the printer applies colour to the block and presses it
firmly and steadily on the cloth, ensuring a good impression by striking it smartly on the
back with a wooden mallet. The second impression is made in the same way, the printer
taking care to see that it fits exactly to the first, a point which he can make sure of by

means of the pins with which the blocks are provided at each corner and which are
arranged in such a way that when those at the right side or at the top of the block fall
upon those at the left side or the bottom of the previous impression the two printings join
up exactly and continue the pattern without a break. Each succeeding impression is
made in precisely the same manner until the length of cloth is fully printed. When this is
done it is wound over the drying rollers, thus bringing forward a fresh length to be
treated similarly.
If the pattern contains several colours the cloth is usually first printed throughout with
one, then dried, and printed with the second, the same operations being repeated until
all the colours are printed.
Block printing by hand is a slow process it is, however, capable of yielding highly artistic
results, some of which are unobtainable by any other method.

Perrotine printing[edit]
The perrotine is a block-printing machine invented by Perrot of Rouen in 1834, and
practically speaking is the only successful mechanical device ever introduced for this
purpose. For some reason or other it has rarely been used in England, but its value was
almost immediately recognized on the Continent, and although block printing of all sorts
has been replaced to such an enormous extent by roller printing, the perrotine is still
largely employed in French, German and Italian works.
The construction of this ingenious machine is too complex to describe here without the
aid of several detailed drawings, but its mode of action is roughly as follows: Three large
blocks (3 ft. long by 3 to 5 in. wide), with the pattern cut or cast on them in relief, are
brought to bear successively on the three faces of a specially constructed printing table
over which the cloth passes (together with its backing of printers blanket) after each
impression. The faces of the table are arranged at right angles to each other, and the
blocks work in slides similarly placed, so that their engraved faces are perfectly parallel
to the tables. Each block is moreover provided with its own particular colour trough,
distributing brush, and woolen colour pad or sieve, and is supplied automatically with
colour by these appliances during the whole time that the machine is in motion. The first
effect of starting the machine is to cause the colour sieves, which have a reciprocating
motion, to pass over, and receive a charge of colour from, the rollers, fixed to revolve, in
the colour troughs. They then return to their original position between the tables and the
printing blocks, coming in contact on the way with the distributing brushes, which spread
the colour evenly over their entire surfaces. At this point the blocks advance and are

gently pressed twice against the colour pads (or sieves) which then retreat once more
towards the colour troughs. During this last movement the cloth to be printed is drawn
forward over the first table, and, immediately the colour pads are sufficiently out of the
way, the block advances and, with some force, stamps the first impression on it. The
second block is now put into gear and the foregoing operations are repeated for both
blocks, the cloth advancing, after each impression, a distance exactly equal to the width
of the blocks. After the second block has made its impression the third comes into play
in precisely the same way, so that as the cloth leaves the machines it's fully printed in
three separate colours, each fitting into its proper place and completing the pattern. If
necessary the forward movement of the cloth can be arrested without in any way
interfering with the motion of the block, san arrangement which allows any insufficiently
printed impression to be repeated in exactly the same place with a precision practically
impossible in hand printing.
For certain classes of work the perrotine possesses great advantages over the handblock; for not only is the rate of production greatly increased, but the joining up of the
various impressions to each other is much more exacting fact, as a rule, no sign of a
break in continuity of line can be noticed in well-executed work. On the other hand,
however, the perrotine can only be applied to the production of patterns containing not
more than three colours nor exceeding five inches in vertical repeat, whereas hand
block printing can cope with patterns of almost any scale and continuing any number of
colours. All things considered, therefore, the two processes cannot be compared on the
same basis: the perrotine is best for work of a utilitarian character and the hand-block
for decorative work in which the design only repeats every 15 to 20 in. and contains
colours varying in number from one to a dozen. -

Engraved copperplate printing[edit]

Main article: Roller printing on textiles
The printing of textiles from engraved copperplates was first practiced in the United
Kingdom by Thomas Bell in 1770.
The presses first used were of the ordinary letterpress type, the engraved plate being
fixed in the place of the type. In later improvements the well-known cylinder press was
employed; the plate was inked mechanically and cleaned off by passing under a sharp
blade of steel; and the cloth, instead of being laid on the plate, was passed round the
pressure cylinder. The plate was raised into frictional contact with the cylinder and in
passing under it transferred its ink to the cloth.

The great difficulty in plate printing was to make the various impressions join up exactly;
and, as this could never be done with any certainty, the process was eventually
confined to patterns complete in one repeat, and was made obsolete by roller printing.

Roller printing, cylinder printing, or machine printing[edit]

Main article: Roller printing on textiles
This elegant and efficient process was patented and worked by Bell in 1785 only fifteen
years after his application of the engraved plate to textiles. Bell's first patent was for a
machine to print six colours at once, but, owing probably to its incomplete development,
this was not immediately successful, although the principle of the method was shown to
be practical by the printing of one colour with perfectly satisfactory results. The difficulty
was to keep the six rollers, each carrying a portion of the pattern, in perfect register with
each other. This defect was soon overcome by Adam Parkinson of Manchester, and in
1785, the year of its invention, Bells machine with Parkinson's improvement was
successfully employed by Messrs Livesey, Hargreaves and Company ofBamber
Bridge, Preston, for the printing of calico in from two to six colours at a single operation.
The advantages possessed by roller printing over other contemporary processes were
three: firstly, its high productivity, 10,000 to 12,000 yards being commonly printed in one
day of ten hours by a single-colour machine; secondly, by its capacity of being applied
to the reproduction of every style of design, ranging from the fine delicate lines of
copperplate engraving and the small repeats and limited colours of the perrotine to the
broadest effects of block printing and to patterns varying in repeat from I to 80 in.; and
thirdly, the wonderful exactitude with which each portion of an elaborate multicolour
pattern can be fitted into its proper place without faulty joints at its points of repetition.

Stencil printing[edit]
The art of stenciling is not new. It has been applied to the decoration of textile fabrics
from time immemorial by the Japanese, and, of late years, has found increasing
employment in Europe for certain classes of decorative work on woven goods for
furnishing purposes.
The pattern is cut out of a sheet of stout paper or thin metal with a sharp-pointed knife,
the uncut portions representing the part that is to be reserved or left uncoloured. The
sheet is now laid on the material to be decorated and colour is brushed through its
interstices.

It is obvious that with suitable planning an all over pattern may be just as easily
produced by this process as by hand or machine printing, and that moreover, if several
plates are used, as many colours as plates may be introduced into it. The peculiarity of
stenciled patterns is that they have to be held together by ties, that is to say, certain
parts of them have to be left uncut, so as to connect them with each other, and prevent
them from falling apart in separate pieces. For instance, a complete circle cannot be cut
without its center dropping out, and, consequently, its outline has to be interrupted at
convenient points by ties or uncut portions. Similarly with other objects. The necessity
for ties exercises great influence on the design, and in the hands of a designer of
indifferent ability they may be very unsightly. On the other hand, a capable man utilizes
them to supply the drawing, and when thus treated they form an integral part of the
pattern and enhance its artistic value whilst complying with the conditions and the
process.
For single-colour work a stenciling machine was patented in 1894 by S. H. Sharp. It
consists of an endless stencil plate of thin sheet steel that passes continuously over a
revolving cast iron cylinder. Between the two the cloth to be ornamented passes and the
colour is forced on to it, through the holes in the stencil, by mechanical means.

Screen-printing[edit]
Screen printing is by far the most used technology today. Two types exist: rotary screen
printing and flat (bed) screen printing. A blade squeezes the printing paste through
openings in the screen onto the fabric.
Digital textile printing[edit]
Digital textile printing, often referred to as direct to garment printing, DTG printing, and
digital garment printing is a process of printing on textiles and garments using
specialized or modified inkjet technology. Inkjet printing on fabric is also possible with
an inkjet printer by using fabric sheets with a removable paper backing. Today major
inkjet technology manufacturers can offer specialized products designed for direct
printing on textiles, not only for sampling but also for bulk production. Since the early
1990s, inkjet technology and specially developed water-based ink (known as dyesublimation or disperse direct ink) has offered the possibility of printing directly onto
polyester fabric. This is mainly related to visual communication in retail and brand
promotion (flags, banners and other point of sales applications). Printing onto nylon and
silk can be done by using an acid ink. Reactive ink is used for cellulose based fibers,
such as cotton and linen. Using inkjet technology in digital textile printing allows for

single pieces, mid-run production and even long-run alternatives to screen printed
fabric.
Other methods of printing[edit]
Although most work is executed throughout by one or other of the seven distinct
processes mentioned above, combinations of them are frequently employed.
Sometimes a pattern is printed partly by machine and partly by block; and sometimes a
cylindrical block is used along with engraved copper-rollers in the ordinary printing
machine. The block in this latter case is in all respects, except that of shape, identical
with a flat wood or coppered block, but, instead of being dipped in colour, it receives its
supply from an endless blanket, one part of which works in contact with colourfurnishing rollers and the other part with the cylindrical block. This block is known as a
surface or peg roller. Many attempts have been made to print multicolour patterns with
surface rollers alone, but hitherto with little success, owing to their irregularity in action
and to the difficulty of preventing them from warping. These defects are not present in
the printing of linoleum in which opaque oil colours are used, colours that neither sink
into the body of the hard linoleum nor tend to warp the roller.
'Inkjet Printing on Fabric' is a way anyone can print on fabric using their home printer.
Specially treated Cotton, as well as various types of Bamboo and Silk fabric sheets, are
available in various sizes. The fabric sheets have a paper backing which enable the
fabric to go through the inkjet printer. Family photos printed on fabric are used to make
memory quilts, pillows, notebook covers, wall hangings, ornaments and many other
products. The printed fabric is dipped in water to set the ink after the inkjet ink dries,
making it washable. Print on Fabric paper-backed inkjet sheets are available on
Amazon and other websites.
The printing of yarns and warping is extensively practiced. It is usually carried on by a
simple sort of surface printing machine and calls for no special mention.
Lithographic printing, too, has been applied to textile fabrics with somewhat qualified
success. Its irregularity and the difficulty of printing all over patterns to repeat properly,
have restricted its use to the production of decorative panels, equal in size to that of the
plate or stone, and complete in themselves.
Pad printing has been recently introduced to textile printing for the specific purpose of
printing garment tags (care labels).

Preparation of cloth for printing[edit]

Goods intended for calico printing ought to be exceptionally well-bleached, otherwise

stains, and other serious defects, are certain to arise during subsequent operations.
The chemical preparations used for special styles will be mentioned in their proper
places; but a general prepare, employed for most colours that are developed and fixed
by steaming only, consists in passing the bleached calico through a weak solution of
sulfated or turkey red oil containing from 21/2 per cent, to 5 per cent, of fatty acid. Some
colours are printed on pure bleached cloth, but all patterns containing alizarine red, rose
and salmon shades, are considerably brightened by the presence of oil, and indeed
very few, if any, colours are detrimentally affected by it.
Apart from wet preparations the cloth has always to be brushed, to free it from loose
nap, flocks and dust that it picks up whilst stored. Frequently, too, it has to be sheared
by being passed over rapidly revolving knives arranged spirally round an axle, which
rapidly and effectually cuts off all filaments and knots, leaving the cloth perfectly smooth
and clean and in a condition fit to receive impressions of the most delicate engraving.
Some figured fabrics, especially those woven in checks, stripes and crossovers, require
very careful stretching and straightening on a special machine, known as a stenter,
before they can be printed with certain formal styles of pattern which are intended in
one way or another to correspond with the cloth pattern. Finally, all descriptions of cloth
are wound round hollow wooden or iron centers into rolls of convenient size for
mounting on the printing machines.

Preparation of colours[edit]
The art of making colours for textile printing demands both chemical knowledge and
extensive technical experience, for their ingredients must not only be properly
proportioned to each other, but they must be specially chosen and compounded for the
particular style of work in hand. For a pattern containing only one colour any mixture
may be used so long as it fulfills all conditions as to shade, quality and fastness; but
where two or more colours are associated in the same design each must be capable of
undergoing without injury the various operations necessary for the development and
fixation of the others.
All printing pastes whether containing colouring matter or not are known technically as
colours, and are referred to as such in the sequence.
Colours vary considerably in composition. The greater number of them contain all the
elements necessary for the direct production and fixation of the colour-lake. Some few

contain the colouring matter alone and require various after-treatments for its fixation;
and others again are simply mordants thickened. A mordant is the metallic salt or other
substance that combines with the colouring principle to form an insoluble colour-lake,
either directly by steaming, or indirectly by dyeing.
All printing colours require thickening, for the twofold object of enabling them to be
transferred from colour-box to cloth without loss and to prevent them from running or
spreading beyond the limits of the pattern.

Selecting thickening agents[edit]

The printing thickeners used depend on the printing technique and fabric and dyestuff
used. Typical thickening agents are starch derivatives, flour, gum arabic, guar
gum derivatives, tamarind,sodium alginate, sodium polyacrylate, gum Senegal and gum
tragacanth, British gum or dextrine and albumen.
Hot water soluble tickening agents as native starch are made into pastes by boiling in
double or jacketed pans, between the inner and outer casings of which either steam or
water may be made to circulate, for boiling and cooling purposes. Mechanical agitators
are also fitted in these pans to mix the various ingredients together, and to destroy
lumps and prevent the formation of lumps, keeping the contents thoroughly stirred up
during the whole time they are being boiled and cooled to make a smooth paste. Most
thickening agents used today are cold soluble and require only extensive stirring.

Starch paste[edit]
This is made from wheat starch, cold water, and olive oil, and boiled for thickening.
Non modified Starch was the most extensively used of all the thickenings. It is
applicable to all but strongly alkaline or strongly acid colours. With the former it thickens
up to a stiff unworkable jelly, while mineral acids or acid salts convert it into dextrine,
thus diminishing its viscosity or thickening power. Acetic and formic acids have no
action on it even at the boil. Today mostlymodified carboxymethylated cold soluble
starches are used which have a stable viscosity and are easier to rinse out of the fabric
and give reproducible "short" pasty rheology.
Flour paste is made in a similar way to starch paste. At the present time it is rarely used
for anything but the thickening of aluminum and iron mordants. In the impressive textile
traditions of Japan, several techniques using starch paste resists of rice flour have been
perfected over several centuries.

Gums[edit]
Gum arabic and gum Senegal are both very old thickenings, but their expense prevents
them from being used for any but pale delicate tints. They are especially useful
thickenings for the light ground colours of soft muslins and sateens on account of the
property they possess of dissolving completely out of the fibers of the cloth in the
washing process after printing and have a long flowing, viscous rheology, giving sharp
print and good penetration in the cloth. Today guar gum and tamarind derivates offer a
cheaper alternative.
British gum or dextrin is prepared by heating starch. It varies considerably in
composition sometimes being only slightly roasted and consequently only partly
converted into dextrine, and at other times being highly torrefied, and almost completely
soluble in cold water and very dark in colour. Its thickening power decreases and its
gummy nature increases as the temperature at which it is roasted is raised. The lighter
coloured gums or dextrines will make a good thickening with from 2 to 3 lb of gum to
one gallon of water, but the darkest and most highly calcined require from 6 to lb per
gallon to give a substantial paste. Between these limits all qualities are obtainable. The
darkest qualities are very useful for strongly acid colours, and with the exception of gum
Senegal, are the best for strongly alkaline colours and discharges. Like the natural
gums, neither light nor dark British gums penetrate as well into the fiber of the cloth so
deeply as pure starch or flour, and are therefore unsuitable for very dark strong colours.
Gum tragacanth, or Dragon, is one of the most indispensable thickening agents
possessed by the textile printer. It may be mixed in any proportion with starch or flour
and is equally useful for pigment colours and mordant colours. When added to starch
paste it increases its penetrative power, adds to its softness without diminishing its
thickness, makes it easier to wash Out of the fabric and produces much more level
colours than starch paste alone. Used by itself it is suitable for printing all kinds of dark
grounds on goods that are required to retain their soft clothy feel. A tragacanth mucilage
may be made either by allowing it to stand a day or two in contact with cold water or by
soaking it for twenty-four hours in warm water and then boiling it up until it is perfectly
smooth and homogeneous. If boiled under pressure it gives a very fine, smooth
mucilage (not a solution proper), much thinner than if made in the cold.
Starch always leave on the printed cloth somewhat harsh in feel (unless modified
carboxymethylated starches are used) but are well suited to obtain very dark colours.
Gum Senegal, gum arabic or modified guar gum thickening are yielding beautifully clear

and perfectly even tints comparing to starch, but give lighter colours and are washed
away too much during the rinsing or washing of the printed fabric and are thus less
suited for very dark colours. (The gums are apparently preventing the colours from
combining fully with the fibers.) So a printing stock solution is mostly a combination of
modified starch and gum stock solutions usually made by dissolving 6 or 8 lb of either in
one gallon of water.

Albumen[edit]
Albumen is both a thickening and a fixing agent for insoluble pigments such as chrome
yellow, the ochres, vermilion and ultramarine. Albumen is always dissolved in the cold,
a process that takes several days when large quantities are required. The usual
strength of the solution is 4 lb per gallon of water for blood albumen, and 6 lb per gallon
for egg albumen. The latter is expensive and only used for the lightest shades. For most
purposes one part of albumen solution is mixed with one part of tragacanth mucilage,
this proportion of albumen being found amply sufficient for the fixation of all ordinary
pigment colours. In special instances the blood albumen solution is made as strong as
50 per cent, but this is only in cases where very dark colours are required to be
absolutely fast to washing. After printing, albumen thickened colours are exposed to hot
steam, which coagulates the albumen and effectually fixes the colours.

Printing thickeners and the dye system[edit]

Combinations of cold water soluble carboxymethylated starch, guar gum and tamarind
derivatives are most commonly used today in disperse screen printing on polyester, for
cotton printing withreactive dyes alginates are used, sodium polyacrylates
for pigment printing and with vat dyes on cotton only carboxymethylated starch is used.

Printing paste preparation[edit]

Formerly colours were always prepared for printing by boiling the thickening agent, the
colouring matter and solvents, &c., together, then cooling and adding the various fixing
agents. At the present time, however, concentrated solutions of the colouring matters
and other adjuncts are often simply added to the cold thickenings, of which large
quantities are kept in stock.
Colours are reduced in shade by simply adding more stock (printing) paste. For
example, a dark blue containing 4 oz. of methylene blue per gallon may readily be made
into a pale shade by adding to it thirty times its bulk of starch paste or gum, as the case
may be. Similarly with other colours.

Before printing it is very essential to strain or sieve all colours in order to free them from
lumps, fine sand, &c., which would inevitably damage the highly polished surface of the
engraved rollers and result in bad printing. Every scratch on the surface of a roller prints
a fine line in the cloth, and too much care, therefore, cannot be taken to remove, as far
as possible, all grit and other hard particles from every colour.
The straining is usually done by squeezing the colour through filter cloths as artisanal
fine cotton, silk or industrial woven nylon. Fine sieves can also be employed for colours
that are used hot or are very strongly alkaline or acid.

Silk printing[edit]
The colours and methods employed are the same as for wool, except that in the case of
silk no preparation of the material is required before printing and the ordinary dry
steaming is preferable to damp steaming.
Both acid and basic dyes play an important role in silk printing, which for the most part
is confined to the production of articles for wearing apparel dress goods, handkerchiefs,
scarves, articles for which bright colours are in demand. Alizarine and other mordant
colours are mainly used, or ought to be, for any goods that have to resist repeated
washings and prolonged exposure to light. In this case the silk frequently requires to be
prepared in alizarine oil, after which it is treated in all respects like cotton steamed,
washed and soaped the colours used being the same.
Silk is especially adapted to discharge and reserve effects. Most of the acid dyes can be
discharged in the same way as when they are dyed on wool; and reserved effects are
produced by printing mechanical resists, such as waxes and fats, on the cloth and then
dyeing it up in cold dye-liquor. The great affinity of the silk fiber for basic and acid
dyestuffs enables it to extract colouring matter from cold solutions, and permanently
combine with it to form an insoluble lake. After dyeing, the reserve prints are washed,
first in cold water to get rid of any colour not fixed on the fibre, and then in hot water or
benzene, to dissolve out the resisting bodies.
As a rule, after steaming, silk goods are only washed in hot water, but, of course, those
printed entirely in mordant dyes will stand soaping, and indeed require it to brighten the
colours and soften the material. (E. K.)
COLORHUE silk dyes do not require heat setting or steaming. They strike instantly,
allowing user to dye color upon color. They are concentrated and should be diluted with
water before dyeing. Intended mostly for silk scarf dyeing, they may also be used on silk

clothing and other projects. They also will dye bamboo, rayon, linen, and some other
natural fabrics like hemp and wool to a lesser extent, but will not set on cotton.